Roses and Lilies
by Harmony Slytherin
Summary: Sirius Black is in Azkaban, and he is remembering something that he does not want to remember. But it's not what you'd expect...


Roses and Lilies  
  
Harmony Slytherin  
  
A/N I honestly have no idea where this came from. However, I think you'll enjoy...and REVIEW it! *Wink wink* okay, onto to the story!  
  
I do NOT own the song in here. It's the fourth song on the Shrek soundtrack, and I don't even know what it's called. However, I like it, and am using the lyrics. Just so you know.  
  
Oh, and another thing. This story is so totally Americanized (and Muggle-ized, so to speak) that it isn't even funny. I hope that doesn't bother you. Okay, ONWARD!  
  
  
Ten years. Ten years Sirius Black had spent in this hellhole. Usually Sirius had no idea of time, but there was one day where the realization of the years was pressed upon him...  
  
Fudge's yearly inspection.   
  
He was half surprised that Fudge was still Minister. However he said nothing. Just scared him out of his wits once again by being incredibly sane.  
  
But that wasn't the point. The point was that yesterday was November the 5th. That had become New Years Day for Sirius Black. It was the only thing he kept track of, and now he knew that it had been an entire decade of torture.  
  
Harry. He would be eleven now. In his first year at Hogwarts. Sirius tried to picture him. He had looked like James with Lily's eyes as a child, and Sirius suspected he still did. However, as Sirius thought about their son, flashes of the scene where Lily and James had died flashed through his head.  
  
He shook it off. The dementors were getting to him. He turned into a dog, trying desperately to be free from their grasp. However, a memory came upon him, faster than he could come up with a defense against it...  
  
  
  
Miria looked absolutely gorgeous. Of course, Sirius didn't know that yet. James had a hand on his shoulder, forcing him not to look back.  
  
However, even James was finding it hard to hold in how beautiful Miria Belltower looked in that dress. Not to mention her aura. She was glowing, absolutely glowing.   
  
James had often been told that brides did this, but he hadn't expected it to be quite so severe.   
  
Mara, Miria's eleven-year-old sister, had been the first down the aisle, showering flowers to the left and right. Then Clarissa, Gabby, and Adrienne, who were Miria's bridesmaids. Then Lily. James had gotten as nervous as if HE were the groom when he saw Lily walking up the aisle in that beautiful dress. But then...Miria.  
  
The music began, and the guests got their first view of the bride. There were gasps all around. Sirius was itching to turn and look, but James held him back. Until, that is, she reached Sirius.   
  
Sirius, good old Padfoot, always laughing and carefree, never serious, loving good women, good jokes, and good beer, nearly fainted dead away when he saw her. She smiled, like the sun suddenly bursting through the clouds after days of rain. As Sirius took her hands, he realized that he would never be able to hit on random girls at bars again. Never again just 'look', as he called it. Never again ask for a girls phone number before he even knew their name.  
  
He smiled a smile of absolute bliss.  
  
They both turned in perfect unison, and Dumbledore himself found it hard to restrain himself from gasping. Miria's perfect white dress was glinting from the sunlight reflecting off the beads hand sewn onto it, and Sirius's black tux contrasted with it to perfection. Sirius had actually tamed his hair and his face was clean. Miria's thick, soft brown hair fell perfectly around her neck and to her shoulders, and her brown eyes were alight with a fire that cannot really be described.  
  
You would've never guessed she was one of the Order of Light's top spies; the daughter of a Death Eater.  
  
Dumbledore, realizing that everyone was looking at him, smiled and began to speak.  
  
Sirius was soaking in Dumbledore's deep, understanding voice. He was glad Miria had talked him into letting Dumbledore marry them. At that moment, Sirius couldn't imagine it any other way. The wedding party was standing on the edge of the Hogwarts ground in the beautiful May sunshine. Dumbledore rambled on animatedly as Miria and Sirius looked from him to each other, as if none of the other hundred people were even there.  
  
They exchanged rings. Excitement was building up fast in Sirius's chest as he said his vows.   
  
"Until Death do us part." He recited. *And beyond* He thought, looking into Miria's eyes. A single tear of joy ran down her cheek, as if she could understand what he was thinking.  
  
This was it. He was tying the knot, getting hitched. He wasn't even breathing as Dumbledore said The Words.  
  
"I now pronounce you Man and Wife. You may kiss the Bride."  
  
Sirius and Miria had been in each other's arm since the word 'may', not that anyone noticed. There were whoops and cheers, which Sirius and Miria didn't even notice until they had broken apart. Miria turned to Lily and squealed. They hugged.   
  
"So, Mrs. Black..." But Lily never finished, because at those two words they and the other three bridesmaids started jumping up and down and screaming and hugging and quite frankly scaring all the bachelors (and the groom) out of their wits...  
  
  
  
Sirius was suddenly aware of where he was, in Azkaban, looking out of the barred window at the crescent moon. He tried to make the memory stop there. To not go on. He didn't want to remember that day.   
  
But the power of the Dementors over took him. He was tossed back into the memory as soon as he wished not to be...  
  
  
  
"Onto the reception! Remus yelled, more to make the girls stop screaming than anything else.  
  
The reception was just as beautiful as the wedding. It wasn't on the grounds, however. It was on the Quidditch pitch! Sirius had wanted to have the wedding there in the first place, but Miria wouldn't stand for it. She was a Quidditch fan...but not THAT obsessed.  
  
The food was wonderful. The Newlyweds sat at the head table with James, Lily, Remus, Clarissa, Peter, Adrienne, Gabby, and Dumbledore, who didn't feel at all out of place sitting with the young men and women...quite the opposite.  
  
Dinner was constantly interrupted by everyone else ringing bells and clinking their glasses with forks, demanding the bride and groom to kiss. Not that Sirius or Miria had a problem with this. The others at the head table were getting annoyed however: they had seen the two kiss more than enough over the last two years and did not need to see any more of it.  
  
At the end of dinner, James stood up and the room went silent. He raised his glass and cleared his throat.  
  
"All of you here know how terrible I am at making speeches, but I'm the best man, so too bad for you." Ripple of light laughter, and James continued. "I just want to ask everyone to take a good look at them." James turned towards the Blacks, making it obvious to whom he was referring. "They look beautiful don't they? I mean, who here would have guessed it? I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers that little, er, hair incident in second year..." The crowd, or at least the ones who knew what he was talking about, roared with laughter. Sirius Black and Miria Belltower had not liked each other in their younger years. And that particular incident turned Miria's shining brown hair a hideous shade of green, and was always standing on end as if under some serious static electricity. (Not that anyone knew what that was...)   
  
"Anyway," James continued. "Look at how far they've come. You would've never guessed it back then, because they were so different, and now we see that's why they fit together so well. I propose a toast to Mr. and Mrs. Sirius Black, and many children to come."  
  
"Hear, hear!" Everyone shouted, as Sirius spluttered with mock indignation. It was well known that Sirius never planned to have children. But James, Lily, and some significant others knew that Miria was coaxing the idea of children with him, and he was starting to crack.  
  
"Cake, cake, cake, cake!" Remus started chanting with an evil grin. Soon the rest of the crowd caught on, and the only audible sound was the roaring of "CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!" Sirius and Miria walked from the table to where the magnificent snow white cake stood, with a miniature (moving) Sirius and Miria on top of it. They both cut a piece, and went to feed it to each other...  
  
Miria smashed her piece right in Sirius's face.  
  
"That's for turning my hair green!" She said, or meant to say. It was rather inaudible because Sirius had just covered her face with cake. James got the overwhelming urge to start a food fight, but one severe look from Lily clearly informed his that this was NOT going to happen if he wanted to keep his life. He sighed and looked up at the sky. It was dusk now, and fairies (a small breed, and anywhere from white to yellow to red to pink in color, known as 'rose fairies') started lighting up the pitch, as Dumbledore had asked them to. Seeing this, he leaned forward to James  
  
"I must be leaving now, Mr. Potter." He said quietly.  
  
"Aw, c'mon Professor! The dancing hasn't even started yet!" James did a bit of salsa in his chair, much to the amusement of Lily.  
  
"I have a meeting with Rookwood tonight, remember? Says he's got some important information for me. I can't miss this, James." The Headmaster looked sadly at the happy newlyweds, as if he didn't want to miss the rest of the night for the world. Of course, the persons present understood why. Ever since Miria had left her family for the Light side, Dumbledore had become something of a father to her, or maybe a favorite uncle. But Dumbledore wouldn't let anything get in the way of even the smallest thing to stop Voldemort, which is part of the reason he was such a great man.  
  
"Make my apologies to the Bride and Groom." He stood and began to leave, but not before he turned to take one last look at them.   
  
"She does look beautiful, doesn't she?" He whispered. Then he shook his head, and took off for Hogsmeade where he could disapperate.  
  
After the cake was passed out and actually eaten, the music started. Sirius offered his hand to Miria, who took it and let him lead her out onto the dance floor, moving to the beat of the slow love song.  
  
  
There is something that I see  
In the way you look at me  
There's a truth  
There's a light in your eyes  
What an unexpected way  
On this unexpected day  
Could it be, this is where I belong?  
It is you I have loved all along.  
There's no more mystery  
It is finally clear to me  
You're the home my heart's searched for  
So long  
And it is you I have loved  
All along  
  
  
They spoke in whispers and soft giggles. Miria's silk dress soft and wonderful under Sirius's rough hands. As the song drew to a close, they kissed softly, not even hearing the wistful sighs of all the maidens present, or seeing the knowing smiles of the married women, or the painful look on the face of the widows. They only knew each other.  
  
A new song began, and James and Lily were the first couple on the floor. Others soon followed, laughing and dancing under the starlight.  
  
  
  
With an extreme burst of will, Sirius forced himself to be aware of the present. The memory MUST stop here. He must NOT remember his wedding. He must NOT remember Miria, with her beautiful, feathery hair, soft eyes, looking so beautiful in that dress...  
  
  
  
After a few songs, Miria screamed that it was time to throw the bouquet. She was now holding the arrangement of flowers; red roses for love and white daylilies because...well...they looked good. The men present rolled their eyes, but all the unmarried women came running over to her, crowding a good distance away. They were giggling and pushing slightly, and have a load of fun.  
  
Until someone screamed, and pointed up to the sky.  
  
Sirius's heart stopped dead. Looming above him was the grinning green skull that every wizard present feared.  
  
The Dark Mark.  
  
More screaming ensued, and for good reason. At least forty Death Eaters were suddenly on the premises.  
  
Wands were quickly drawn and curses flashed. Sirius and James were trying to be everywhere at once.  
  
*Where IS Dumbledore?* Sirius thought furiously, ducking a jet of orange and sending blue curses left and right.   
  
The Death Eaters were outnumbered, and soon began to retreat. Victory was close at hand. And that's when Sirius heard it.  
  
A scream. A piercing, high pitched, blood curdling scream.   
  
"MIRIA!" He shouted, and forgetting all reason pushed through a crowd of Death Eaters. He was there just in time to see her fall, her bouquet flying through the air.  
  
"Never disobey your father, my daughter." The Death Eater looming over her hissed. Then the evil masked face looked up at Sirius...and disappeared. Like a ripple, so did all the others. But Sirius didn't even notice.  
  
He was kneeling over his wife of not even three hours. She took her wrist...and felt nothing. His head drooped in defeat and he began to cry bitterly. James walked over mechanically, in a state of shock, as he watched his best friend cry over the woman he had loved so much. He saw Lily and walked over to her. She was shaking.  
  
Sirius looked up.  
  
"Where are the flowers?" He asked hoarsely, much to everyone's surprise. He wanted to lay them here with her. It was a silly, immature notion, but Sirius, at the moment, did not care. "Where are they?"  
  
As one, it seemed the entire party looked at Lily, who looked down at her feet. Lying there was Miria's perfect arrangement of red roses and white daylilies. 


End file.
